Centennial's Zub receives Master Gardeners scholarship

Lea-Ann Zub is a Martin County resident and environmentalist professional

Zub family collection

INDIANTOWN - St. Lucie Centennial High School science instructor Lea-Ann Zub was selected by the Martin County Master Gardeners as one of the organization's annual scholarship recipients.

Zub, a Martin County native, is seeking a master's degree in ecological restoration at the University of Florida Fort Pierce location, the Indian River Research and Education Center.

Zub said her passion is to inspire high school students she teaches to understand how their daily actions impact the environment around them.

"What I like most about teaching is when students recognize their vital role in the preservation or destruction our environment," said Zub. "By end of the academic year they are more fully aware of their surroundings and how they impact the environment on a personal level."

Her students are enrolled in junior- and senior-level advanced placement courses, which often earn them qualifications for college credits. Students who elect her courses do so because they plan to pursue a college degree in environmental sciences or a similar course of study.

Excited about her own new educational pursuits, Zub's mid-career goal is for advancement in her position, or a possible teaching position at the university level. She also considers public outreach programs to protect the threatened Indian River Lagoon.

"Degradation of the entire Indian River Lagoon has been taking place for decades," she said. "With social media we are finally getting the support we need to pressure elected officials."

She believes education is the best tool for protection of Florida's beautiful natural resources. She and her students are assisting with a pilot program to initiate a school-wide recycling program that will be implemented later this year at St. Lucie West Centennial High School. The program is being considered for school districtwide fulfillment.

"Conservation programs save the environment, save money and they deliver satisfaction for those who participate in them," she said.

In addition to her studies and teaching duties, Zub and her family own an eco-adventure business, Green Paw Adventure Sports. The business offers race-themed tours utilizing trails, mountain bicycles, canoes and kayaks, in local park settings. Participants in the competition events are required to have navigation and compass reading skills.

"The races are a way to get locals out into our beautiful parks," she said. "The different areas of the parks offer so much to residents."

The Zub family made a recent purchase on farmland in Indiantown. They plan to use the eight-acre tract to make themselves, as she describes, "as self-sustaining as possible." Plans are to rear horses, cattle and possibly goats, herb and vegetable gardens, and a citrus tree orchard.

Zub completed a bachelor's degree in biology at Florida Atlantic University and has taught science courses in St. Lucie County public schools for the last nine years.

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